Kristine: Did you end up trying either of those? I was trying to find where they had posted the formulation for Dr Numb. The website is kind of hype-ey and I could not find the ingredients. I read somewhere else that 5% is maximum non-prescription level for lidocaine, so 13% sounds questionable. There are some negative reviews on Amazon. I can't find anything about Triocaine.

I have tried Triocaine. For me, it didn't work as well as emla, it numbed faster but didn't numb as intensely. A friend of mine said it worked better than emla for her. One might have to try it to see which works better for them.

Incidentally, a while back Dr. Numb was advertised in a spam post here on Hairtell (James made some rather amusing changes to the post.) Whether it was them or a third party I don't know (but I bet James can tell us.)

The effectivness of numbing agents is very individual. One has to try several to see which ones work best for you. Frequently, one will find that none of them are worth the expense if the hair removal practitioner is using up to date equipment, and a high level of skill.

As for the spammers, they were flogging a link that they got pennies per click on how many folks visited the web site.

I am in agreement with James. One observation I have noted about topicals, especially LMX 4% lidocaine. It seems that purchasing the 5 gram small tubes for one or two time usage are more potent. Perhaps when the seal is punctured for use, the effectiveness diminishes with repeated use over time. So buying small may give more effective pain relief. For an upper lip client, she uses the 5 gram tube of LMX and gets total numbing. She applies like cake frosting and leaves it on for 1 hour and 30 minutes and it works like a charm for her. Most of my clients do not need topicals. They can soldier through it. For the ones that may ask me in the future about numbing, I am going to suggest purchasing smaller packages. It would be interesting to see if there is a pattern to buying smaller quantities in regard to potency.

Actually, I would expect that the potency would diminish over time. The pharmacists who mix up topicals, instruct the clients to store them in the refrigerator until they are used. I can't imagine an open six month old tube being anywhere near as useful as a tube opened today.

Exactly my point. Getting a small one time or two time use tube is better than getting a 30 gram tube that is opened and re-opened many times over a period of time. Go for small quanity for more potent stable action.